Eames's Tutor
by C.Queen
Summary: Tom Eames is not having a good year what with the car accident, subsequent injuries, and the need to repeat his last term of high school so that he can graduate and get on with his life. And just when he didn't things could get much worse, Eames finds out that his new tutor is none other than Arthur Cobb, the boy he's been crushing on since they met.
1. Worst Year Ever

Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the plot. Thanks for reading.

Worst Year Ever

2013 was the worst year of Tom Eames's existence. It wasn't over yet, unfortunately, but Eames saw absolutely no way in bloody hell things wouldn't stay equally crappy, especially when school started again. And that was a pisser, especially since he'd always thought that nothing could be worse that the year he'd turned fifteen, when he'd not only had to accept that he was gay and going to have to come out sooner as opposed to latter, but his mum had decided that the two of them were moving back to her hometown and his dad could come there to see them when he wasn't in the Middle East as she was damn sick of moving all the time from base to base. Yup, he'd pretty much thought his life was over then, gay and moving to a small town after years of travel, excitement and new adventures.

And then May third, twenty-thirteen happened, and his life had nearly been over. Permanently.

It was supposed to be his last year in high school, the end so close they'd all been able to taste it. He'd expected to graduate and leave the sleepy little town in the fall, his only regret the fact that he had yet to even talk to the incredibly hot and mysterious Arthur Cobb, who'd transferred to his school that winter and who he'd been madly crushing on ever since. And even then he'd told himself he had until the end of the summer to maybe make a move or at least talk to the guy, thinking that right up until he hadn't been able to think at all, period.

He and some of his mates had gone out that Saturday night to celebrate Matt's birthday, the plan being to camp out on the edge of town and drink themselves silly until they'd passed out in their sleeping bags with what had promised to be epic hangovers the following morning. And that's exactly what they'd started doing upon arrival, and how the night should have ended.

That night he'd fumbled his way into his sleeping bag thoroughly pissed, his tolerance for alcohol sadly low in comparison to some of the others who were still drinking even after he'd passed out. The rest of what happened was all hearsay, he'd slept through it, but apparently Nash and Matt had gotten into an argument as to whose truck was better, especially since Matt's was a birthday present, aka new and untested. And in their drunken state they'd decided that the extra camping equipment stowed in Matt's truck made them uneven, and that equal weight had to be put in Nash's truck bed to be fair.

They'd picked him up, sleeping bag and all, and put him in the back of the pickup truck along with another passed out friend and Ty, who'd been drunk enough to think this was a great idea.

He hadn't woken up when they drove off to a nearby stretch of flat, straight road, nor had he so much as stirred as the two trucks had sped down said road at dangerous speeds that had come to an end when Nash had lost control and rolled them, Matt crashing his own truck when he attempted to pull over to the side. He'd still been in his sleeping bag when help arrived, the broken bones and internal bleeding playing second fiddle to the brain injuries that had kept him in a coma for over a month. But he'd woken up, and all the pain the alcohol and consequent coma had dimmed had rebounded to hit him full force for the rest of the summer. Pain was now his constant friend, and you didn't even want to get him started on the tortures of physiotherapy. But he was alive and that was more than Alex could say, Eames acknowledged grimly. And he would, with time, be able to walk unaided permanently, and Nash was never going to walk again.

And staring out the van window as his mum drove them towards the outskirts of town in the hot August air, Eames thought to himself that it was just added insult to his injuries that the person his principal had advised his mum to hire to tutor him was none other than the crush he'd been mentally sighing over that stupid, life changing night.

The whole thing had come as a total shock to him, especially since the classes Cobb had taken last term had mostly been bird courses that had done nothing to suggest that Arthur was in fact someone of extreme intelligence. Not that he'd thought the man seemed dumb, far from it, but he had not been expecting to hear that the reason the other teenager wasn't taking the AP courses was because Arthur had already graduated from some genius, brainiac school for the gifted and was only taking what would amount to a year's worth of classes at their high school because Arthur's father thought it would be good for his son to have to attend regular school and deal with normal people. The guy had apparently dated the principal and talked her into it.

According to Principal Carter Arthur was more than qualified to tutor him, and on top of that Arthur didn't have to worry about his test scores or studying for his final term because he already had every top university in the country vying for his attendance. He was perfect in other words.

Which was the truth, especially when it came to the man's tight little arse, but he really, really didn't want the man as his tutor. He most definitely did not want to look weak, much less stupid in front of Arthur even if the guy was or wasn't dating his friend Ariadne. She said they weren't, and she wasn't a liar, but his best mate Yusuf claimed she'd dumped him for Arthur so either way that was one more reason not to want to do this. And yet, unfortunately, he couldn't argue about his mum about this because the woman had been through hell and back this summer and he would be damned if he added to her worries by bitching about this. Especially when he had to do well academically this term in order to make the money she'd be giving him for university well worth it.

)

He'd driven past Arthur's house before, and when they pulled into the driveway a part of him was excited at the idea of finally seeing inside, maybe finally meeting the other teen's father, who no one ever seemed to see. Arthur's mum was dead apparently, and he had two much younger siblings he always seemed to have with him when he wasn't in school. That was something that had always appealed to him actually, the fact that Arthur seemed so mature and aloof at school, but so devoted to taking care of his siblings who adored him according to the grapevine.

Once parked his mum got out and retrieved his chair, bringing it around so that he had to move as little as possible as he transferred over to the only wheels he drove these days. His legs had been relatively undamaged but his spine had taken some hard knocks that meant he couldn't stand straight for very long before the back pains got to be too much. He could walk short distances now though, thank God, if he had to.

With his mum pushing his chair they headed for the front door, almost there when they heard the sound of childish shrieks and a sprinkler from the backyard, the wild barking of a dog punctuating the sounds. Sharing a look Eames's mum changed their direction, both very thankfully that there was a paved path that was just wide enough to accommodate his chair and led towards the back. And then they had reached the back and Eames forgot everything, including his own name, at the sight of Arthur Cobb in a swimsuit. A short, Daniel Craig as Bond swim suit that hung low enough on the man's hips that he could see part of the lines where leg met the rest of that incredible, wet, sexy, mouth wateringly yummy body he wanted to lick up like a melting fucking ice lolly.

And then those dark eyes met his and Eames forgot even that, especially when Arthur started towards them, dripping water and gaze piercingly direct while the two children and a very wet dog followed at a cautious, curious pace.

"Dr. Eames. Eames. What brings you by?"

He knows my name, Eames inwardly crowed, though that was probably only because of the publicity from the accident and the fact that everyone knew everyone in this town.

Thankfully his mum wasn't as star struck, and could answer for them. "We're sorry to interrupt, but we were hoping to have a few minutes of your time, Arthur."

A raised eyebrow was Arthur's only show of surprise, the teenager focusing on his mum now as he told her that they could talk on the patio, asking if they would like some lemonade as he'd been about to get some anyway for the kids. When she said yes Arthur excused himself and then turned to the two children, speaking to them in rapid fire French that had the boy following him into the house and the girl leading them over to the patio furniture, pulling a chair away from the table for Eames.

Now that Arthur was gone and his mind had cleared somewhat, Eames smiled at the girl who was watching him with open curiosity, fairly sure she was about eight but unsure of the name. "Thanks, Kiddo. And you are?"

"I'm Phillipa, though you can call me Phil. This is Sorry." She added, motioning towards the dog sitting patiently at her side, watching the new guests with equal interest.

"Why Sorry?" Eames's mum asked as she wheeled her son into place and then took a seat beside him.

Smiling, Phillipa explained how, when they'd gone to the pound to get a dog for her brother, who'd always wanted a dog, Sorry had been on his way to another room but had broken loose, charging James and giving him lots of kisses while the vet assistant said 'sorry' over and over again as she tried to get him back under control. James had thought that that was the dog's name and it had stuck once they'd brought him home. And following her explanation the girl offered to show them the tricks Sorry could do, entertaining them until Arthur returned, which naturally distracted Eames immediately.

The other man carried a tray with a pitcher of lemonade and some glasses, the little boy carrying a plate that held cookies that turned out to be oatmeal chocolate chip. In his highly efficient manner Arthur had the drinks and cookies handed out in short order, Phillipa taking a seat beside Eames which meant Arthur took the one directly across from him with James easily balanced on his knee with one of Arthur's arms wrapped around the boy's waist for balance.

Polite chitchat was made between Arthur and his mum, and then his mum got down to business, explaining that they were hoping that the teenager would be interested in tutoring him through his last term at school in math primarily, but also with some history and maybe English. He normally did well in the latter two, but they had yet to test out how capable he was at writing essays and such. She couldn't pay a lot, but she hoped they could work something out if he was interested.

Sipping his drink Arthur seemed to consider the idea while the kids ate their cookies and ignored their drinks for the moment, the debate a surprisingly short one that led to an even more surprising question when Arthur brought up Eames's grandmother, asking for confirmation that she was the woman who'd donated a number of knitted stuffed animals to the fundraiser that had been held that summer to collect money for the families of those injured in the accident and hadn't had the army's financial help the way he had through his father.

While Phillipa excited exclaimed that she'd bought four of those animals, Eames's mum confirmed that yes, those had been her mother's work.

"As Phillipa just stated she bought some of your mother's creations, and they rekindled her interest in learning how to knit. I lack the knowledge to teach her myself, so instead of you paying me to tutor Eames would your mother perhaps be willing to teach Phil in trade? I watch them after school, so they'd have to be with me either way, and coming to your house for the tutoring makes sense anyway."

Shrieking in excitement and bouncing in her seat Phillipa's feelings on the matter were clear, Eames's mum surprised but looking very pleased with this change as she asked for a moment to confer with her mother about it.

While she did so Eames forced himself to finally speak, praying like mad that he wouldn't stutter or say something completely stupid. "Thanks, for this. I know Ari says you've been helping her a lot with learning French." Those lessons were indirectly what had caused his two friends to break up, which sucked of course, but it seemed like neutral enough ground.

The small smile that crossed Arthur's lips seriously screwed with Eames's ability to concentrate on what the man said next. "Then I'm going to assume she's told you that I expect absolute dedication from my students. I'm a hard taskmaster, Mr. Eames, and I will work you hard if I have to to see you graduate with what I deem acceptable marks. If you're looking for someone sympathetic, who will take it easy on you and carry you through this term, you're looking in the wrong direction."

You can work me as hard as you want, Eames almost said, but was thankfully interrupted by his mum who announced that his grandmother would be pleased as pie to teach Phil to knit.

And that, as it turned out, was that.

)

Much later that night Arthur did his last circuit around the house, checking all the doors and windows to make sure everything was locked up and in order. Intellectually he knew that there was probably no need, they lived in a sleepy little town where pretty much nothing ever happened, but since he'd essentially become the guardian of his siblings he'd become more than a little paranoid. His father had told him that being a parent was far more work than he could imagine, and in truth it was, but the man had forgotten to mention that the worst part was imagining all the things that could go wrong or befall his charges when he wasn't around or vigilant enough.

Heading upstairs when he was done looking over the main level, Arthur absently adjusted a picture frame before continuing up and then turning right, stopping at Phil's room. Opening the door a little he checked to make sure she was still tucked in for the night and not bouncing around excitedly over her upcoming lessons with Eames's grandmother. She was asleep, or doing a damn good impression of it, and he was smiling as he closed the door and moved on to James's room. His brother wasn't nearly as thrilled about the fact that they'd be paying visits to Eames's house as their sister, but then James was horribly shy and slow to warm up to people. Thanks to the few months the two had lived with their grandmere after Maman had died…James hardly talked at all.

Jaw clenching painfully, as it always did when he thought of the scars their other family members had left on his innocent siblings, intentional or not, Arthur had to take a moment to compose himself and remember that that was in the past and was not going to be repeated. They were with him now, and except for the occasional visit from their father to make sure no one called Child Services on them the three of them and Sorry were living together as a family and the better for it.

Letting out a calming breath Arthur forced his thoughts to turn to the fact that he'd agreed to tutor the very popular and handsome Tom Eames. It would certainly be interesting, he thought with a grin, especially since it was glaringly obvious, at least to him, that the former football player had a huge crush on him. Or at least wanted to have sex with him, given the too numerous to count times he'd caught the senior drooling over him when he thought no one was looking. That no one else seemed to notice was just one more bit of proof that he was currently living in a town and attending a high school populated by people who'd had their brains destroyed by television, junk food, and far too much inbreeding given the fact that many of them all had the same last names.

Which was why his father had exiled them here and demanded that he actually attend high school for a year, Arthur thought with a small grimace, punishment for daring to suggest that he could raise Phillipa and James on his own and better than their parents ever had.

That he was doing precisely that were slaps to his father and grandmere's faces, which suited him just fine as it happened. Though he couldn't wait until this last term was over and he could stop taking university classes covertly online so that his brains didn't leak out of his ears due to the classes his father had especially picked out just for him at the high school.

Just one more term and he could start attending a university again. The commute would be a bit of a bitch, but he wasn't about to uproot the kids again and this was, for better or for worst, home now.

Having to deal with Eames's crush and the no doubt interesting and entertaining situations that would arise as a result would make the coming few months interesting though, something to look forward to. If Eames were older and not in the closet Arthur had to admit he might have been tempted to see just what would happen if he were to put the moves on him…but those were the facts, and he was hell on details.

As his maman would have said, 'cest la vie.'


	2. First Study Date

Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the plot. Thanks for reading.

First Study Date

Eames felt as eager and nervous as a little kid on his first day of school. Or at least how he figured he had felt way back then, and his mum's video recording of the event would suggest he wasn't wrong to think so. Either way he couldn't wait for Arthur to get to his house even as he worried that this was all going to blow up in his face and the other teenager would throw his hands up in the air, declare him far too stupid to waste his time on, and go. Logically he knew that he wasn't stupid, and that Arthur wasn't the type who would give up that easily, but being rational wasn't easy when the guy you'd fancied for months was coming over to your house to spend an hour and a half with you, just the two of them.

Well, sort of.

They'd decided that he and Arthur would work in the dining room, which led into the parlor where his grandmother and Arthur's little sister would have their first knitting lesson. That way the girl would be able to see that her brother was close by if she got nervous being in a strange place with a stranger, and Arthur would know she was okay too. Where the little boy would go would be up to him and Arthur, they'd decided, especially since James was obviously very shy. And while normally Eames would have liked the privacy of his own room, especially now that he as sleeping in his own bed again, the idea of being in his bedroom with Arthur was a little more than he could handle at the moment.

"They're here." His grandmother called out, having been keeping a lookout. "So are they just half siblings then? I mean with the age difference and all. The oldest one certainly doesn't look like his daddy." Not that she'd known Dominic Cobb's well, her only child being seven years older, but she'd known the man's mama back in the day.

"Mom, don't spy on them." Not that she expected her mother to listen. "And from what I understand they're full siblings but don't badger Arthur about it, he's doing us a major favor not charging us for this, knitting lessons or not. We looked up what a tutor costs, remember?"

Ignoring her daughter Mimi stayed right where she was, frowning when she commented that the boy was in some sort of booster seat, which made no sense to her given that he was six years old, wasn't he?

"It's the law." Dr. Eames reminded her, due to the boy's age and small stature. Personally she thought it spoke well of Arthur that he obeyed that law instead of ignoring it because people were too relaxed about car safety in this town.

The tension and oppressive memories descended on them all like a ton of bricks, the silence deafening until Eames's grandmother recovered enough to launch into an approving tirade about the fact that her future student didn't look like a mini hooker. The disgraceful way young girls dressed these days was one of her favorite rants and she was more reassured to see that the girl's stomach wasn't showing than she was that Arthur had had James in a booster seat. So far she approved of the Cobb siblings, she announced as she finally moved away from the window, adding that the oldest one was certainly a handsome one, even if he wasn't in his father's league. Pity about the ears.

"His ears are bloody adorable." Eames blurted out before he could stop himself.

Turning her head as her lips shaped into a wide grin, Eames's grandmother looked like the cat that got the canary as she inquired if she would be correct in assuming that this Arthur Cobb was her grandson's type.

"Mimi…" Eames began warningly, cheeks flushing a little pink as he squirmed tellingly.

"Oh, Sweetie, why didn't you tell me you have a crush on him?"

"MUM!"

The sound of the doorbell going off canceled the conversation, thank God, but Eames had no doubt that it would be brought up as soon as their guests were gone, dammit. Yup, crappiest year of his life, Eames silently muttered as he followed the women towards the front door, hanging back a little since there wasn't room for all of them and his chair.

"Hello, Dr. Eames." Phillipa said as soon as she was inside. "Thanks for having us. Hello, Mrs. Pegg, I'm Phillipa but you can call me Phil if you want to. Thanks very much for agreeing to teach me how to knit, I promise I'll work really hard. We went to the store and bought all the stuff the websites said I might need." The little girl motioned to her bright pink satchel, the strap across her chest. "These are my brothers, Arthur and James."

Arthur greeted everyone with his usual, impeccable manners, while James clutched his big brother's hand and nodded in everyone's direction.

"Well you three can just call me Mimi." Mimi announced, explaining that whenever anyone called for Mrs. Pegg she thought they meant her former mother in law. She and the woman had gotten along about as well as two wet cats in a sack, so the thought of her being around was never a pleasant one. "Now you three come on in and we'll get started, shall we?"

)

In short order Mimi had everyone where they were supposed to be, James curled up in a chair near his sister with a book in his hand to read while the lessons were going on. Eames and Arthur were stationed at the dining room table, the former trying not to freak out a little as he watched the latter take out two thick math textbooks, a binder that was already full, and sheets of lined paper from the elegant leather satchel he'd seen the other teen use at school all the time.

For his part Arthur had his ear cocked to pick up the noise from the parlor, reassured by the sound of his sister's happy chatter as she and Eames's grandmother got acquainted and Phil showed off her knitting supplies. There wasn't a peep coming from James, naturally, but Phillipa would watch over him and call out if they needed him.

"We're going to start with the most basic and work our way up." Arthur began once everything was where he wanted it to be. "This isn't meant as an insult to you, it's simple common sense since I have no idea what your injuries might have caused you to forget or have problems understanding. Today's students also have a deplorable dependency on calculators and you need to be broken of the habit if we're going to work together. Without the foundation that mathematics is built on there's nothing to build on, and cheating with a machine isn't learning. So we'll start with these samplers I've put together and we'll see how far you can get before we need to give you a refresher."

Accepting the pieces of paper he was handed Eames saw that the other man wasn't kidding about the starting from the bottom, the first questions dealing with adding and subtracting. He should probably be glad that they were all in the hundreds.

And not about to argue he got to work, breezing through the adding and subtracting and nearly done the multiplication and division when Arthur spoke, interrupting his mental calculations with a question.

"Why do you do that with your fingers?"

"Do what?"

"You mutter the math under your breath as you're doing it, and whenever you're dealing with the nine times tables you move one of your fingers and then put in the correct answer. Why?"

Eames knew he tended to mutter during tests and such, he learned better verbally and it helped him problem solve if he heard it even though teachers were constantly telling him not to because it distracted people. He was surprised that Arthur had been able to understand him, not to mention a little worried that Arthur would consider what he'd been doing as cheating now that he thought about it. But he'd been caught in the act so Eames fessed up that he always used his fingers to do the nine times tables.

"I don't understand." Arthur's voice made it clear that he didn't like that one little bit.

Holding his hands out in front of him like he was going to push someone Eames explained that by lowering the finger that represented whatever number the nine was being multiplied by you got the answer to the math question by putting the number on the one side alongside the number on the other side. For instances if you lowered the forth finger you had three fingers on your left and six on the right, making thirty-six which was what nine times four was.

Catching on Arthur immediately brought up his own hands and quickly lowered each finger in turn, noting the truth of Eames's statement. "It works. Who taught you this?"

"My dad."

"I see. I'll teach this to Phillipa and James as a way to double check their answer, thank you. Now back to it."

Turning his attention back to his work Eames finished his multiplication and division, grimacing over the need to use BEDMAS and deal with exponents and then fractions, which he'd always hated and struggled with. Rather than admit to that Eames decided to claim foggy memory due to brain injury as opposed to fraction stupidity, and asked Arthur for help with those, applying himself to the best of his ability and ridiculously grateful that Arthur was the sort who broke things down easily and had the knowledge to explain things in a variety of ways until the concept was grasped.

For his part Arthur was pleased that the other man was doing reasonably well, especially considering the fact that he'd hypothesized that Eames might have trouble with him as a tutor given his crush on him. But then again he'd watched a few of the football games and been impressed by the single-minded focus Eames had shown when it came to that white and black ball, so perhaps this was similar.

Actually, he might be just as likely to lose his focus, Arthur acknowledged, his eyes drawn once again to the tattoos that were just visibly under Eames's T-shirt sleeves. He'd seen the same hints at school, but had never had a chance to see any of them properly. He'd never been good at not having his curiosity appeased. Plus it had been quite a while since he'd been this close to a male he would, under different circumstances, be interested in sexually, and that was a factor he couldn't ignore either.

Concentrate on the math and the man's oddly sweet muttering, Arthur ordered himself, pulling his attention back to the work with a single-minded focus to mirror Eames's.

The two were nearing area and diameters when Phillipa loudly stating the really long word from Mary Poppins interrupted their work, Arthur looking up and over in her direction with a look of amusement that had his dimples flashing sexily.

Wanting to keep those dimples there Eames asked Arthur if the girl was a fan of the books as well as the movie.

"I don't believe she's read them, we don't have them at home."

From the parlor the two could hear Mimi ask the girl why she'd said that word so suddenly, Phillipa explaining that Arthur had told her that 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' was the closest thing to a swear word she was allowed to say. Any other bad word and she got sent to her papa's room to read the dictionary until Arthur said she could stop.

"He sends you to your father's room instead of your own?"

"Well it's not a punishment if he sends me to MY room." The little girl stated in her best impression of her big brother. "All my stuff is there. There's NOTHING to do in my papa's room BUT read the dictionary. I like learning big words that none of my friends know though."

"And what's your punishment, James?" Mimi asked, obviously trying to include the boy in their discussion, amusement in the older woman's voice.

"The same thing, though he hardly ever gets in trouble." Phillipa told her as she obviously, to her brothers anyway, cut off Mimi's attempt to talk to James. Older women unnerved James most of all, and even though Mimi was just trying to be nice James wouldn't see it that way until he got used to her.

"He can read the dictionary?"

No response was heard so both Eames and Arthur assumed one of the children had nodded, Phillipa shifting Eames's grandmother's attention back to her by claiming she needed the woman's help because she'd made a mess of her latest row.

)

Both lessons continued on after that until it was ten minutes before the scheduled end of the lesson, James coming into the dining room to remind Arthur of the time just in case. Nodding Arthur assured his brother that he was aware of the time and that he'd made sure they would have plenty of time to get to the restaurant before Ariadne started to wonder what was keeping them. Satisfied with that answer James went back into the parlor while Arthur turned his attention back to Eames, who was looking at him in a way that had him quirking an eyebrow in question. "What?"

"Nothing. You and the kids are hanging with Ari tonight?" Not that it was any of his business…he was just curious.

"We're having dinner with her at Delia's and then we're driving to the drive-in to see a movie with Himiko Makino and two of her siblings."

Eames didn't know Himiko well, just that she had a heavy accent, was seriously brilliant, and had eaten lunch with Arthur regularly last term, enough that people had speculated the two were dating before the rumors about him and Ariadne came to light. Oh, and her parents owned a Japanese restaurant. That Arthur was going to the movies with both girls…well he could only assume a lot of the speculation had just been rumors.

"So what movie are you seeing?" He asked, just to say something.

"'The Secret World of Arrietty' by Studio Ghibli. We've seen if before, but never on a large screen. Have you seen any of Hayao Miyazaki's work?"

Judging by the name Eames shook his head, assuming that they were going to see some foreign movie with subtitles. Poor kids. Though there was something about the name…where did he know the name Arrietty from?

"Being half British you might know the books the movie was based on. 'The Borrowers' by Mary Norton?"

Eyes widening Eames snapped his fingers, lighting up as he made the connection. "The stories about little people who live inside houses and borrow stuff from regular people, who they call 'beans'?" When Arthur nodded Eames expressed the sentiment that he couldn't believe that no one had told him there was now another version besides the one with the actor who'd played Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies. He'd loved those books as a child, his Gran had read them to him all the time. He'd searched her house high and low whenever he'd visited her in England because she'd convinced him there might be Borrowers living with her.

"I'll have to look it up on Netflix tonight, even if I do hate subtitles."

"It was translated by Disney, most Studio Ghibli's works are, so there's an English version which is what we're going to see. James is too young for subtitles yet." A pause. "And if you like you could just come with us tonight, if you think you're up to it. I can bring you back afterwards."

Stunned by the offer Eames didn't know what to say. He'd dreamed about Arthur asking him out of course, which really wasn't what this was but still…it was certainly a step in a positive direction. On the other hand the idea of going out wasn't terribly appealing, especially since he could never be sure when his body would decide to throw him for a very painful loop. He wouldn't want to ruin the night for the rest after all, especially the kids. And if Arthur really was dating one of the girls in question…he really didn't want to see the other man snuggling with some girl instead of him.

"The kids will stretch out on a blanket while the rest of us are sitting in lawn chairs anyway. And I'm stronger than I look, if you need help with your chair."

"I'd hate to be a fifth wheel." Eames hedged, trying to figure out how to back out convincingly when he actually really did want to go.

Arthur's lips curved into a smile that hinted at his dimples, which were like kryptonite as far as Eames was concerned. "No one is ever left out of a conversation with Phil, she'll probably talk your ears off since she doesn't know you. And we'll only be five until the movie, when you'll even our numbers out."

"Well I suppose-if you're sure it wouldn't be a bother…I'll just have to clear it with my mum."

Eames mother, as it turned out, was thrilled with the idea of Eames getting out of the house and was more than willing to come and pick him up wherever they were if Eames's body decided to revolt badly enough that his pain killers couldn't deal with it. He hadn't hung out with Ariadne in forever after all, and she'd heard nothing but good things about Arthur when she'd called the girl about the boy's tutoring abilities. Ariadne had also stated that she was most definitely not dating Arthur, they were just friends, which meant that maybe her baby had a chance with him?

Mentally cursing her lack of gaydar, she hadn't even known her son was gay until he'd told her, Eames's mother could only cross her fingers for luck a short while later after seeing her son safely into Arthur's car, waving the four off from the front porch.


End file.
